Plenty of new faces in bullpen

By Randy MillerStaff Writer

Tuesday

Jun 28, 2011 at 12:01 AMJun 28, 2011 at 6:50 PM

?PHILADELPHIA — All of the Phillies position players were inside the clubhouse in a hitters meeting and the starting pitchers were on the field taking batting practice when the seven healthy relievers, plus injured closer Brad Lidge, headed outdoors to stretch.

There sure were a lot of new faces getting loose for the first of three showdown games with the Boston Red Sox.

Righty Andrew Carpenter, just up from Triple-A on Tuesday after cups of coffee with the Phillies from 2008-10, was there.

So were Scott Mathieson and Juan Perez, both of whom were summoned from Lehigh Valley in the last week, plus two young righties who have spent time in the minors this season, rookie Michael Stutes and David Herndon.

There were two others stretching, the lone bullpen guys who have been around for the entire first half of the 2011 season, veteran middle reliever Danys Baez and second-year lefty Antonio Bastardo.

Nowhere to be found was closer Ryan Madson, who supposedly had a good chance to be ready for the Boston series but instead was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a right hand contusion that’s sidelined him since June 19.

“This is a great opportunity for a lot of guys in our bullpen,” pitching coach Rich Dubee said. “Hopefully they’ll all embrace it and take off with it.”

The Phillies now hope Madson is back by next Tuesday, the first day he’s eligible to return from his backdated DL stint. General manager Ruben Amaro, Jr., says he’s “not sure” if that’ll happen or not.

“We’ll try to get it to calmed down and pitch (Madson) when he’s ready,” Amaro said. “He just had a shot to take some of the inflammation out. It worked, but obviously it didn’t get it all out of there. Obviously he’s still feeling it, so there’s no reason to push it.”

This will force manager Charlie Manuel to choose between Antonio Bastardo and Stutes to fill in at closer for Madson, who won the job after filling in for injured righty Jose Contreras, who had been filling in for Lidge.

“They’ve passed all the tests,” Manuel said. “They deserve to get a chance. I’ve got a lot of faith in them. I believe in them. I trust them.”

Pressed, Manuel said if he had to “pin somebody down to be the closer for a period of time, Bastardo would probably get the first try.”

“If they give me the chance, I’ll take it,” Bastardo said. “I’m here to pitch. It doesn’t matter where or when.”

Just in case he’s called upon, Stutes has repeatedly sought out closing advice from Madson and Lidge.

Carpenter, called up to replace Madson on the 25-man roster, just wants a chance to contribute after earning a promotion by going 5-0 with a 1.58 ERA in 24 Triple-A relief outings.

Although mostly pitching out of the bullpen during his previous short big-league stints, Carpenter always had been a starter in the minors. The 26-year-old righty was asked to go to the bullpen during spring training after he had been designated for assignment, cleared waivers and agreed to stay in the organization.

Realizing the Phillies’ big-league rotation was loaded with ace starters, Carpenter says he was going to request a switch even before called into a meeting with pitching coach Rich Dubee, minor-league pitching coordinator Gorman Heimueller and assistant general manager Chuck LaMar.

“We had a good talk with Carp and he was all for it,” Dubee said. “He just didn’t have enough weapons to get through lineups three times. He was good when he came out of college with a fastball, a slider and a split. We thought it’d be enough for him to pitch out of the bullpen and be effective. And to Carp’s credit ... he’s taken off and run with it.”

Now, Carpenter will try to do the same pitching out of a makeshift Phillies bullpen that will keep trying to make due with what it has until Madson, Contreras and Lidge get healthy.

“Someone’s gotta pick up the slack for the guys who aren’t out there,” Stutes said.

Follow Us

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Bucks County Courier Times ~ 8400 N. Bristol Pk, Levittown, PA 19057 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service